Cost of keeping a cow

[Haywood]

Hello,

If anyone out there has experience in owning a cow I had a question on the cost. The land that the cow will be on is under 3 acres and not much of it is pasture. For this reason I guess I will need to buy most of its feed.

This will be a milking cow and so the cost of feed will be higher than a dry cow. Generally speaking, what do you think would be a ballpark figure for the cost in feed per year? We do drink a lot of milk but since our land is so small I wondered if it was really economical to keep a cow.

I guess besides the milk, I am looking at the benefit of having all that great manure.

Thanks for the help!

 

[BarredBuff]

You could consider Dairy Goats. Cheaper to buy and cheaper to feed.

 

[ksalvagno]

Hay and feed costs have really gone up over the last couple years. While I don't have cows, I do have alpacas and goats. I will be buying 500 bales of hay and I'm looking at that costing about $2500. This doesn't even include the feed. My goats in milk go through a lot of feed when they are in milk. I have 5 alpacas and 18 goats. A cow will eat significantly more hay and feed than an alpaca or goat.

I believe cows give about 5 gallons a day of milk. So you will also need to figure out what you will do with all that milk. If you make cheese and do all kinds of things with milk, then you may be fine but if you don't really have time for all that and you are only looking for drinking milk for the family, then you will probably have to just dump it. If you have other farm animals like chickens and pigs, you can feed the milk to them though.

It is hard to give you an estimate since it is very different in different parts of the country. Hay runs about $4-$6 a bale in my area but there are areas that hay can be $15 a bale.

 

[hwillm1977]

I'm another vote for either getting dairy sheep or goats...

If all you have is 3 acres of not very good pasture, it's not going to sustain a cow and it probably isn't going to be cost effective to pay for all the feed just to get the milk (and beef if you keep the calf each time she's bred)

I know that where I am, it's illegal to sell or give away milk unless you get a dairy quota... which are usually passed down through farmer's families and can be next to impossible to get. And one cow is going to give you more milk than you'd know what to do with (for a typical sized family).

I love Icelandic sheep, they are a triple purpose breed, so that's what I intend to get someday (I don't actually have a dairy animal now... I've only got an acre, so I'm sticking with my chickens, dogs and horse until we move)

 

[Wildsky]

Find out how much a cow will eat a day and then check the cost of hay in your area.

Friends of ours have a milk cow and they normally keep a calf on her, and milk her half-time, so they don't get as much milk as a cow without a calf, I'm not sure how they do it, but sometimes they go out and buy "bottle" babies and their cow will "adopt" the little one.
They are a family of 5, and often have too much milk - we're the lucky recipients!

 

[Wifezilla]

You could get a mini cow

Google Irish Dexters.

 

[Haywood]

Thanks all !

That was helpful. Another reason I was looking at getting a cow was that I have fairly poor soil and I need a lot of manure for now. I guess maybe buying it from someone might be cheaper.

Thanks again

 

[sammileah]

wintering a cow takes 2300 pounds of hay (avg). production rations 27pounds hay a day. for a jersey size.
grain rations i've read 3 1/2 pounds per gallon of milk.

I don't have a cow i'm getting all this out of a book. but hope it helps.

and cows poo alot so it will help your soil quicker. but any poo will help over time.

 

[hwillm1977]

If you need manure, ask stables or barns in the area if you can have some... we have people come all the time to pick up horse manure from the manure pile. The property where I keep my horse has 34 other horses and 40 cows, and the barn owner is really happy if people are willing to shovel it up and take it away (although they generally spread the cow manure on the hay fields.) People have even come in little cars, filled heavy duty garbage bags and driven away with the windows done... lol... it'd be a lot easier if you have a truck and can pick up truckloads.

It's free, just takes a little bit of labour... but I'm sure lots of places would be happy to get rid of manure like that, and that's TONS cheaper than keeping a cow.

 

[newmochick]

I wanted a cow but after thinking . . . . goats are much easier (though I don't have any yet). You need to figure out how you are going to get that cow bred each year. Also, you will have to dry her up prior to breeding so then you won't have any milk - therefore, really need two!

Have you searched your area (craigslist is an option) for raw milk. There is another site but I can't think of it.